Re: finding out the value of HZ from userspace

[Albert Cahalan <albert@users.sf.net>]

On Sat, 2004-03-20 at 04:56, Arjan van de Ven wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 16, 2004 at 11:14:59AM -0500, Albert Cahalan wrote:
> > > there is one. Nothing uses it
> > > (sysconf() provides this info)
> > 
> > If you have a recent glibc on a recent kernel, it might.
> > You could also get a -1 or a supposed ABI value that
> > has nothing to do with the kernel currently running.
> > The most reliable way is to first look around on the
> > stack in search of ELF notes, and then fall back to
> > some horribly gross hacks as needed.
> 
> eh sysconf() is the nice way to get to the ELF notes
> instead of having to grovel yourself.

Unless there is some hidden feature that lets
me specify the ELF note number directly, no way.

The sysconf(_SC_CLK_TCK) call does not return an
error code when used on a 2.2.xx i386 kernel.
You get an arbitrary value that fails for ARM,
Alpha, and any system with modified HZ.

You can't rely on sysconf(_SC_NPROCESSORS_CONF)
or sysconf(_SC_NPROCESSORS_ONLN) either. You'll
get back a 0 from the SPARC glibc, which really
means 0 processors since -1 is the error code.

Whatever the question, "use sysconf" is most
likely not the answer.

The man page ought to mention this.